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Match day thread: Exeter

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  • Time wasting isn't hated by all fans, most don't care if it benefits them. It's built up as another faux outrage when it suits and probably isn't much worse than it ever was. There's probably just as many people who will be annoyed that their players have to do another 15 mins when a game is won and everyone is knackered late in the season, or that fans now have no idea when a game might end, we used to get to 112 mins anyway, more if there's an injury.

    Ref was doing us a favour on Saturday anyway, nobody needed another 10 mins of that.

  • I think Brakespeare took it on board. An Exeter player barely kicked the ball away about 15/20 minutes in and he booked him straightaway, right by their dugout. A little harsh, perhaps, but it was good to see and I think players then took that on board.

    He was more lenient in the 2nd half on Sweeney, who was taking an age over a couple of throw ins but apart from that I thought he got it about right.

    Are they meant to put a board up still for added time, perhaps I just missed it at the end of the game?

    I also thought the 30 seconds wait on the side for injured players has had the desired impact. Quite a few times players got up and got on with it, rather than getting the physio on.

    Interestingly, in Leeds game yesterday, their striker got a bit of cramp towards the end and another one of their players treated him! I assume so as not to get the 30 second penalty. I wonder whether this will lead to Dave Waites getting more starts at QPR?!?!

  • It's so clear that players haven't been consulted on this. There is already far too much football. Probably more applicable at the top level where the intensity is so much higher, but it will have a detrimental impact on player wellbeing at all levels.

  • Agreed, this hasn't started overnight , it's been gradual as players need breaks and coaches get cleverer about recovery not just seeking to protect a lead, simply adding 30 mins to each game and hoping nobody is impacted is a bit silly.

  • But presumably, if it stops or reduces the timewasting we will have less 'injury' time than previous. Basically if players don't want to play for 100 minutes all they need to do is get on with things. Probably take a while to sink in, but worth persevering with I think. I also thought the early booking for kicking the ball away was an effective deterrent and there wasn't really much timewasting (admittedly no-one needed to).

  • If you want 80 minute games with no time wasting - fine change the rules to that.

    It does seem a bizarre suggestion to pretend we have a 90 minute game but allow whichever team is winning to cut the game time down to 80 minutes by cheating.

  • If refs are consistent in booking players first time then yeah, I guess there shouldn't be any need for mad amounts of added time. But I'm not convinced that'll enforce the new directive beyond the first few weeks.

  • edited August 2023

    80 minutes is generous - the average PL game sees the ball in play for less than 55 minutes! And most of that 'lost' time isn't from time-wasting - it's just the nature of the sport.

  • But if the ball-in-play time has reduced from 60 mins to 58.5 mins (I don't know the exact numbers) we've lost 2.5% of the game.

    90 second might not sound much but in just ten years it's significant. And quite clearly the trajectory is not good.

    I'd also hypothesise that the winning team has become much more prone to time-wasting. They might be wasting an extra 3 mins, partially offset by trailing teams rushing things even more to leave a net 1.5 mins lost on average.

    It requires a more detailed study but if you looked into time wasted by winning teams - I guess through some sort of ratio of time wasted/remaining time on the clock - I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a material increase in the prevalence of time-wasting.

    I don't really like the huge amounts of added time, but something has to be done to discourage teams from taking the piss when they're 1-0 up. If they know they're facing 15 mins added on then teams might re-think taking an age over every sub or set piece.

    Personally I'd also like to see referees use more discretion to force players off the pitch and leave them there when 'injured'. It is obvious when players are faking injury to disrupt the game. Leave them on the sidelines for 5 mins and it would soon stop.

  • We could get time-wasting down to a few minutes by making the games 10 minutes long. An amazing and intense ten minutes. Not much point actually going to the games but everyone can watch via a smartphone VPN. Which is probably how things are going to be.

  • I'd reverse goal kicks to corners and vice versa for time wasting. Would cause a stink to begin with but teams would soon get on with it. Same for throw ins and free kicks.

  • Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell says pushing his side's boundaries in pre-season was a big reason behind their impressive start to the new campaign.

    The Grecians were 3-0 winners at Wycombe, scoring twice in the first five minutes and missing a ninth-minute penalty in the League One clash.

    Caldwell had his players training at 05:00 and and doing surprise extra drills over the summer.

    "Mentality is a big thing," Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon.

    "Getting up at five o'clock in the morning to go to the gym, doing a run where they didn't know how long or how far or how fast they had to run - we've challenged them in different ways.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66421733

  • Some of the reaction has been oddly abusive. Keep at it!

  • My bad, just wanted to reply to the post about the new focus groups and say how much I admire their efforts to improve the atmosphere at Adams Park. Can’t believe anyone would be unwelcoming to their own fans who are trying to give the team more support. Pleased that you have reacted to feedback and are open to ideas. Don’t be discouraged by any negativity you might encounter.

  • It would make sense to be more central.

    Obviously going 2-0 down inside 4 minutes killed the atmosphere. Hopefully the atmosphere can build during the next games. However I thought those that booed and were getting on the players case so early in the season really do need to be more positive, of course the way the game started was disappointing. Let’s all grow up and get behind the team. The effort was there for all to see.

    Bring on tomorrow night and give MK a proper good stuffing.

  • Not that it means much, but count me in the "this is definitely a good idea" camp re. The 1887 - it certainly takes a lot more to actually stand up and do something about this stuff rather than just post "someone should really fix that" on social media.

    I wasn't there on Sat, but sounds like it started well.

  • Agreed and it’s when the team goes a goal (or even two goals) behind that they need the most support and encouragement.

  • Not often I agree with @glasshalffull but on this, I 100% agree. You should be applauded and thanked for your efforts. Don’t be put off by a small number of detractors. The vast majority are fully behind you and your efforts.

  • Thank you for the support, So many people have worked hard on this including Neil Peters and Ryan from the club, Tony from the trust and all involved in groups. We all want the best for Wycombe and Matt.

  • Thanks for the reply, and interesting to hear that you’re already seeing tweaks to be made. Hope it all goes well for you.

    On another note, I’m fully in favour of the new added time rules and have been very surprised to find that I’m pretty much alone in that. I thought it worked well in the World Cup, and more football for the same price is fine by me.

  • Not sure that anyone has been too negative about the 1887 on here have they?

  • There’s been a few unnecessarily snide comments.

  • Must be frustrating for you but definitely worth pursuing. People will always moan and take the piss but not do much about it. The donations show the interest is there.

    From the far side of the FA it sounded very quiet indeed and the Exeter fans to their credit were a riot. Hope to join you for a game back in the terrace before too long.

    There's a few up the back of the terrace who have never been particularly supportive and enjoyed baiting Tom more than almost anything else, and seemed to hate Ainsworth with a passion, quite odd.

  • Not a terrace dweller but good luck to anyone organising support. We don't have to join in, but we can support a positive mood surely.

  • @Will_i_ams Also just wanted to echo the sentiment that you should keep doing what you're doing. You seem very open to taking on feedback, which is great. And the group always maintain a professional and conciliatory tone despite receiving a lot of needlessly negative feedback from some of our support on social media (and probably in person), which can't be easy.

    When Lincoln's 617 Squadron or Arsenal's new ultras or other similar groups started, some of their regular support mocked them, and now they're lauded as being great for the atmosphere and fan engagement by their entire fanbase.

  • In all the understandable criticism of our new look lot yesterday, we should point out that even given the bizarreness of the the first ten minutes, Exeter were really good for the three points, strong, purposeful, great defending and even when we had settled down we had a very few moments where we might have snatched something from the game.

    It's not like we lost to a terrible team.

  • Welcome to the Gasroom: a few unnecessarily snide comments



    Get the t-shirts printed up

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